Monday, February 15, 2010

Due to the delayed shipment, from White Wolf we had to held the pre-release last Saturday (February 13th, 2010 in Budapest, Hungary). Surprisingly 28 players gathered to play one of the best sealed deck tournaments I have ever participated in. Besides the Heirs to the Blood starter decks we were given one 3rd Edition, one Keepers of Tradition and two Heirs to the Blood boosters. Players were allowed to trade cards before building there decks. This resulted in an unexpected variety of decks.

Before the tournament I was afraid a heavy Kiasyd dominance, but my concerns turned out to be wrong. Two players decided to enhance the Samedi's ousting power by adding several copies of "Virtuosa" to their deck, giving "Agent of Power" an unexpected use. Ever heard of using a SamediMelpominee before? Both players scored one game win during the tournament. I was dealt a Tremere/Gargoyle starter which I really wasn't happy with, since it totally lacks blood and pool gain and is loaded with cards that cost 2 pool. Fortuanately I managed to trade the following cards: 2x Malgorzata, 2x Antonio d'Erlette, 1x Nikolai the Survivor, 1x Nephandus, 3x Chaundice and 2x Fustuk. So I played a Tremere antitribu"/Gargoyle deck. I removed all the "Razor Bats" and all the other cards, that cost pool from the deck, with the exception of "Depravity" and "Guardian Angel". This resulted in a pretty solid deck. I managed to make 1 GW and 3 VPs, which wasn't enough for the final.

The biggest surprise however was Zsolt Cziraki's deck. He was dealt a Samedi starter. Instead of trying to make it work somehow he decided to ask everybody at the tournament for their Baali cards. The result: a complete Baali Deck! He scored 2 GW 10 VPs and was first seat in the final! I couldn't stay to watch the final, but was told later the he won the final with 1.5 VPs. Congratulations to Zsolt "Colos" Cziraki for this achievement!

And the worst thing is that while we have been testing our decks today for the upcoming competition in Szeged, Colos came with nearly the same deck and ousted each and every one of us... XD I got him cornered once, but the pool gaining ability of the baali is hard to keep up with...

the trading actually sounds like a lot of fun for a sealed starter event. especially for a 12-clan set of bloodlines, it's a lot more fun and variety than the same 4 slightly-altered starters. winning with an all-Baali deck is very cool.